Fluid absorbent articles such as absorbent pants, nappies, incontinence protection articles or the like normally have an elongated shape with two end portions and an arch-shaped, narrowing mid-portion positioned therebetween, which constitutes the crotch region of the article.
Such articles are normally symmetrical at least about their longitudinal central axis and, in their planar extended state, have an hour-glass contour, whereby the arch-shaped leg edge-portions are adapted to closely envelope the user's thighs during use.
Both of the end portions of the article which form the waist portions are normally provided with a fastening system, or are attached to each other along respective side edges, which creates both a waist-opening as well as two leg openings.
A receiving zone extends between the leg openings in the article's crotch region, the zone being a part of the article which, during wetting, first comes into contact with the excreted fluid. The receiving zone, which is comparatively narrow for anatomical reasons, should be able to receive and absorb large amounts of excreted bodily fluid even over a short time span. During rapid excretion of considerable volumes of urine, for example sudden incontinence in adults, not all the bodily fluid can penetrate sufficiently quickly through the inner layer and be sucked up into the absorbent core. The fluid collects on the surface of the inner layer in the receiving zone and can run out, mainly at the lower parts of the user's groin and along the inside of the thighs, a problem which is often aggravated by the movements of the user. A good sealing of the article's leg openings is therefore particularly sought after.
Such side-leakage does not however only occur due to inadequate sealing around the crotch region. It has shown itself to be the case that even a poor dimensioning of the receiving zone, for instance an abundance of absorption material, as well as a lack thereof, can give rise to undesirable formation of folds in the absorbent core which facilitates an uncontrolled spread of the fluid which is not capable of being absorbed immediately.
It is therefore advocated in the present invention that the receiving zone is given a bowl shape, in which the fluid can be collected at least temporarily until it is able to penetrate into the absorbent core.
Absorbent articles are normally provided with elastic members, primarily along both of the waist portions and around the leg openings in order to improve the anatomical fit of the article. In general these elastic means are fastened in a stretched state to at least the inner layer or to the fluid-barrier layer, either by adhesive, welding, or in another way. In this regard it is also known to provide the leg edge-portions with elastic members arranged in curved paths, with the purpose of creating, during use, a contracting elastic tension around at least a portion of the leg elastics in order to prevent fluid leakage around the user's crutch.
From EP-0,437,771 it is further known to attach elastic elements along two different wave-shaped paths running across the article. A first path follows the frontal portion of the leg edge-portions and a second path follows the rear part of the leg edge-portions. The paths cross each other at the level of the article's lateral central axis in the area of the leg edge portions. The tension in the elastic elements varies along the paths. One disadvantage with such a solution is that those segments of the paths which extend across the article's crotch region exert an undesirable lateral tension in the receiving zone. This results in the risk of folds being formed in the absorbent material and thereby also the risk of side-leakage being imminent. In order to minimize the risk of undesirable formation of folds, EP 0,437,771 advocates that the elastic elements are only attached around the leg edge-portions while the other parts are maintained in an unstretched state. This is however an extremely intricate and expensive way of avoiding the undesirable contraction of the receiving zone.
The British patent GB 2 276 529 discloses a new way of laying out the elastic elements with the purpose of simultaneously obtaining contracting tension forces around both the waist opening and the leg edge-portions. A plurality of elastic elements are arranged along two distinct paths, of which a first path extends from one side edge of the front waist region to the corresponding side edge of the rear waist region and runs therebetween along the opposite leg edge-portion, while the other path describes a corresponding route from the opposite side edge of the article. Such a solution results more unfortunately in considerable disadvantages as soon as it is used. The elastic tensions which are obtained only act on a central part of the leg edge-portions and subject the entire receiving zone to a laterally-directed compression force, whereby the sought-after sealing around the wearer's legs is deficient and unwelcome folds considerably diminish the absorption capacity.